Colonel dismissed from Indian embassy in Afghanistan, called back for possessing unauthorised pistols

HIGHLIGHTS

A colonel has been dismissed from the Indian embassy in Afghanistan and called back.

He was dismissed for possessing unauthorised weapons.

He was sent back mid-way through his tenure for an enquiry.

HIGHLIGHTS

A colonel has been dismissed from the Indian embassy in Afghanistan and called back.

He was dismissed for possessing unauthorised weapons.

He was sent back mid-way through his tenure for an enquiry.

In an embarrassing development, a colonel has been dismissed from the Indian embassy in Afghanistan after he was found to be in possession of unauthorised weapons. Allegations of other serious kind of misconduct have also surfaced in the investigation after which the officer was made to return mid-way through his tenure there as the deputy military attache.

"The colonel was expelled from the embassy in Kabul and his tenure was cut short after he was found to be in unauthorised possession of two sophisticated pistols which could not be accounted for in a probe conducted by a senior Indian Police Service officer," government sources told Mail Today here.

Multiple queries sent to the ministry for external affairs spokesperson were not answered by the authorities concerned. However, senior army sources confirmed that the officer had been sent back to India mid-way through his tenure and has now been attached to the Delhi area headquarters for an internal probe.

OFFICER DENIES CHARGES

According to the sources, the matter came to light when the officer was intercepted at the Kabul airport by the local agencies there with the two pistols a few months ago while he was returning to India on leave.

When the matter was brought to the notice of Indian authorities, a probe was ordered into the incident as they wanted to establish the facts in the development happening in a country considered to be a strategic partner of India. Sources said the high-level inquiry into the case was ordered at the level of foreign secretary office. During the inquiry conducted by the joint secretary-level police officer in the ministry of external affairs, the Indian Army officer could not establish the source of the weapons which were not on record of the embassy in Kabul. All weapons and equipment in an Indian embassy have to be accounted for in any country where own troops are deployed. After the report was submitted by the investigating officer to the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi, it asked the defence ministry to call back the colonel and carry out an investigation into the matter, they said.

The officer was removed from his post as the foreign affairs ministry did not find him to be suitable for Indian interests there, the sources said. In his defence, the officer has denied the charges against him, claiming the weapons carried by him were due to an "inadvertent error".

A couple of years ago also, a senior Indian Army officer was mired in controversy over allegations in media that he was involved in misbehaviour with a local Afghan woman. India and Afghanistan have been coming together closely as New Delhi has been supplying weapons and humanitarian aid to Kabul for its rebuilding process hindered by Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and its terror groups there.